Due to the rise of cloud computing, the demand for larger data center networks (DCN) has increased to allow users to store access information from virtually any location. A DCN may include hundreds of thousands of servers connected to each other, which makes routing of information into and out of the DCN a very complex task. Pure software based systems, Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platforms (e.g., NetFPGA), and OpenFlow switches are often used to manage data packet routing and congestion control within the DCN. However, software based routing systems require high processor overhead and can include processing latency issues while waiting for processing time on the CPU. For example, using CPU intensive software-based systems with high latency issues may prevent efficient implementation of control plane functions such as signaling and congestion control. FPGA platforms are difficult to program and are expensive to implement. OpenFlow is limited to operating on a limited type of protocols (e.g., Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) packets) and would be susceptible to compatibility issues.